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Thread: From peter hogg and members of the royal nz naval assn. South canterbury branch, new zealand

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    Default From peter hogg and members of the royal nz naval assn. South canterbury branch, new zealand

    HMNZS Monowai served New Zealand well during WW2 and gave excellent service too with the Union Steam Ship Co. before and after the war. Some details of her life follows.

    When the Royal Navy is referred to as the 'Senior Service' it is not meant to mean the Navy considers itself as 'better' than other Services, but merely that the Navy is the oldest of the armed forces, see below. The Merchant Service has also provided a long and noteworthy service for hundreds of years and lost thousands of lives in one sided battles without protection. Let us all hope that all sailors of today and beyond will forever sail in peace.

    Also for lovers of rum have a look at some recipes below from the 18th Century - 'Up Spirits'
    Regards
    Peter Hogg
    RNZNA South Canterbury N.Z.

    "peterhogg222@gmail.com"





    A.M.C. H.M.N.Z.S. MONOWAI


    TSS Monowai seen arriving in Sydney in the 1930’s
    The best known of the steamships operating under the name Monowai was the second of two vessels that operated for the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand from 1925 until it was scrapped in 1960. The vessels were named for an island off New Zealand.
    She served the British Admiralty as a troop carrier during the war.
    The first Monowai, also a Union vessel, was commissioned for the Trans-Pacific service to North America in 1890. It lies scuttled as a breakwater at Gisborne after it was retired in 1926. She was a single stacker with two masts and designed for both passenger and freight service.
    The company’s final Monowai was originally launched under the name Razmak for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. She was designed for service in Indian waters and began running regular trips between Bombay and Aden, Yemen, on the Persian Gulf.
    The Razmak served on that route until 1930 when it was sold to the Union Steamship Co. and given her final name. That year the ship, with subsidies by the New Zealand government, was given a refit that included gun mounts in the event of future use by the New Zealand Navy. The ship’s guns were not mounted but stored at the Devonport Naval base. The Monowai’s passenger accommodation was changed for 483 third class passengers. The hull was painted Bronze Green and the superstructure was done in white. The funnels were painted red with black tops.
    The Monowai was then put on the company’s regular trans-Pacific run, between Wellington to Vancouver, to Tahiti, Honolulu and San Francisco. She was replaced on that run in 1932 by the Maunganui, and began shorter runs between Wellington and Sydney.
    The ship survived its years on the seas, and the war, without sustaining severe damage. Among the worst things that happened to it was a severe gale that was encountered during a 1934 summer crossing from Sydney to Wellington. It was said to have been a force-eight Southeast gale, the worst storm known off the New South Wales coast in 20 years.
    The Monowai battled that storm for 24 hours, taking heavy seas that smashed windows, saturated the cabins and other facilities in the superstructure and left things in a general shambles. Among the passengers for that voyage was Alexander Shaw, the new chairman of the steamship line.
    On another occasion the Monowai was involved in a medical assist after receiving a radio message that a cadet aboard the Finnish sail training ship Favell was stricken with acute appendicitis. The Monowai altered course, met the Favell and took the cadet aboard through a gun-port door. She then steamed for Wellington where the cadet was treated at a local hospital. The skipper of the Monowai, Captain Arthur Davey, later was awarded the honor of Knight of the White Rose by the President of Finland for his services.
    When war broke out in 1939, the ship was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and she was refitted as an armed merchant cruiser at Devonport, Auckland. While she spent the war primarily working as a troop carrier, the HMNZS Monowai was armed with eight 6-inch guns, two 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and six 20 mm guns, plus some machine guns and depth charges. Her engineering officers were given commissioned rank and remained with her. In addition to carrying troops the cruiser was assigned to escourt freighters, tankers and liners between Australia, New Zealand and Fiji during the war.
    There was one attack by the Japanese submarine 120 in 1942. While under enemy gunfire, Monowai fired with her port side guns, her rounds just finding range as the submarine crash-dived. She then steamed at high speed to avoid possible torpedoes. Japanese records show that the sub fired four torpedoes, but they all missed.
    In 1943, the Monowai was taken over by the British Ministry of War Transport and converted into an assault landing ship. Captain G. B. Morgan was given command. Another major overhaul and refitting included installation of defensive armaments and replacement of lifeboats with 20 assault boats capable of landing 800 troops. Thus she participated in the vast armada of ships that landed troops during the Normandy Invasion in June, 1944.
    Of the 20 landing craft dispatched from Monowai that day, only six of them returned. The rest were destroyed in combat, mostly by mines during the landing.
    The ship served briefly as a troop transport once more after the invasion, now making frequent crossings to France. It was estimated that she made 45 crossings and carried 73,000 troops into France.
    The Monowai was being fitted to participate in another invasion, this time on Japan, but the Japanese surrendered before the invasion was carried out. She then was sent to Singapore as a "mercy ship." She returned home to England with 650 service personnel and 199 civilians who had been Japanese prisoners of war.
    After months of carrying troops back to their homes throughout the British Empire, the Monowai was in a neglected and ragged condition. When returned to the Union Steamship Line in 1946, the company was reluctant to pay the cost of refitting this worn-out ship. But because of a lack of enough ships for the fleet at the end of the war, the work was done. At a cost of over a million pounds, her aft mast was replaced with derricks, the funnels lowered and much of the open promenade was enclosed. She was modified to carry 179 first class and 205 cabin or tourist class passengers.
    The ship served on her old run between New Zealand and Australia until its retirement in 1960. She was sold for scrap to a Hong Kong breaking company.
    General characteristics
    Class & type: · armed merchant cruiser
    · from 1944: landing ship/troopship
    Displacement: 10,852 tons gross, 4,925 tons net
    Length: 158.2/152.5 m (519/500 ft)
    Beam: 19.3 m (63 ft)
    Propulsion: two-shaft reciprocal 4-cylinder QE plus low reduction twin exhaust turbines
    14,740 bhp
    Speed: 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) max
    Complement: 366 as AMC
    Sensors and
    processing systems:
    SS1 Type Radar[2]
    Armament: · As AMC
    ·
    o 8 × 6-inch guns (4 each side)
    · 2 × 3 in AA. 6×20 mm (6×1)
    · Twin 20 mm with radar added June 1942
    · Some machine guns, 8 depth charges
    · As LSI(L)
    ·
    o 1 × 4-inch gun
    · 2 × QF 12-pounder (2×1), 2× QF 2-pounder AA (2×1), 2×40 mm (2×1) 8×RPs (2×4), 8×20 mm AA (8×1)
    Notes: Davits fitted for 20 LCAs (Landing Craft Assault) for 800 plus troops. Capacity of each 35 troops or 365 kg cargo.

    1946 August. HMNZS MONOWAI arrived at Sydney where she was released by the British government. The Union Company was far from enthusiastic about restoration of the ship for normal service, but being anxious to resume the trans-Tasman passenger services as soon as possible, decided to put the work in hand. The company's workshop at Sydney was fully committed to restore Aorangi, so Monowai was placed in the hands of the Mort's Dock & Engineering Company, a very experienced company that was formed in 1872. After many years of business, particularly throughout two world wars, this company went into liquidation in 1957 and finally closed the gates in 1968.

    Before and after her refit.
    Reindeer's wartime submarine trip

    Pollyanna the reindeer spent six weeks on HMS Trident
    Historians at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport are remembering one of the more unusual moments of World War II.
    In 1941, the crew of HMS Trident were given a baby reindeer as a gift by the USSR navy.
    The 56 crewmen spent six weeks sharing their already confined living accommodation with the growing reindeer nicknamed Pollyanna
    Wartime tale
    While on operations, fighting German forces in the Arctic Circle in 1941, the British crew of the T-class HMS Trident were given a gift of a baby reindeer by a Soviet naval admiral.

    Pollyanna would get fresh air at the main hatch before the sub dived
    Bill Sainsbury from the Royal Navy Submarine Museum said: "The Russians were so grateful to the British especially at the time when no-one else was helping them - and this was all they had to give.
    "The story goes that the British captain had mentioned his wife had trouble pushing her pram through the snow in England at Christmas time- and the Russian admiral said 'what you need is a reindeer!'. And I suppose because it was a gift, they didn't want to seem rude by refusing it."
    On board
    Living with a reindeer underwater in wartime conditions inevitably posed challenges for the crew. A barrel of moss given by the Russians soon run out and Pollyanna lived on scraps from the galley. She also developed a taste for wartime favourite, Carnation condensed milk.
    Pollyanna was originally lowered into the submarine through a torpedo tube of the sub and it was hoped she could sleep in the torpedo and food store. However she apparently had more refined tastes and insisted on sleeping under the captain's bed.
    Bill Sainsbury said: "There are lots of funny stories - apparently when the submarine surfaced for air, she would barge her way through the narrow corridors to the main hatch to get some fresh air before returning to the officers' mess."
    Despite Pollyanna eating a navigation chart, the crew made it back to the UK where HMS Trident landed at Blyth in Northumberland.
    However as the reindeer had over-indulged on condensed milk, she had actually put on weight and could not be fitted out through the torpedo tube.
    Dry land
    A dockside winch, with some assistance from a crewman with a broom, finally managed to get Pollyanna squeezed out of the submarine and onto dry land.

    HMS Trident had a crew of 56, plus one reindeer
    She was given to Regents Park Zoo (now London Zoo) where she lived out the rest of the war - although whenever she heard a loudspeaker or siren she was said to have ducked down as if she was still on the submarine.
    Pollyanna died five years later, ironically within a week of her old ship, HMS Trident, being decommissioned and scrapped in 1947.
    HMS Trident would have been a regular visitor to Portsmouth, the UK's main base for submarines during World War II. Gosport's Royal Navy Submarine Museum has HMS Alliance, a similar World War II era sub to HMS Trident, on permanent display.
    As part of a festive weekend at the start of December 2009, the museum offered children the chance to visit Santa inside the sub, and although no reindeer was be squeezed down the torpedo tube, a barrel of moss was left in the torpedo store in recognition of one of the Royal Navy's most unusual passengers during World War II.




    PUSSERS RUM


    British navy Pussers Rum has been blended and bottled in strict accordance with Royal Navy Regulations for Admiralty Rum. This is just not a rum, but a tradition which had it's beginning more than 300 years ago in the days of square-riggers, pirates and stout hearted old salts whose daily tot of Pussers Rum was the highlight of their everyday life.


    18th Century British Navy drinks

    There is in the sweet redolence of old rum a soft fragrance that beguiles one into forgetting it's more sinister and vicious history. In this hellish drink with the heavenly bouquet there lurks the spirit of some joyous revelry which may be discovered by drinking some of the following old recipes:

    FLIP: Most popular in Nelson's day, a tot of rum in a pint of strong ale.

    TODDY: A favourite in cold weather around Cape Horn;
    Rum, Hot water and brown sugar, sometimes topped with cinnamon or nutmeg.

    SWITCHEL: Another one from square rigged days -
    A teaspoon of molasses, a dash of vinegar, tot of rum and some water.

    Drinks improved on from Navy drinks by planters/slaves in the Indies/U.S. :

    COLONIAL FLIP: An earthenware pitcher or a great pewter mug two thirds full of strong
    beer, sweetened with molasses or sugar. To this was added one gill (quarter
    pint) of dark rum (more if needed) and into the mixture was thrust a red-hot
    iron loggerhead used to stir the drink. Sometimes a little ginger or nutmeg was
    sprinkled on top.


    PUNCH: A common drink at the dinner table and still popular in the Indies. Usually:
    One part lemon or lime, 2 parts sugar, 3 parts rum and water to taste-nutmeg on top.

    BOMBO: An afternoon drink in the south:
    Dark rum, sugar, cool water and generously sprinkled with nutmeg.





    No higher resolution available.


    FROM PETER HOGG AND MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL NZ NAVAL ASSN. SOUTH CANTERBURY BRANCH, NEW ZEALAND
    Brian Probetts (site admin)
    R760142

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    Default Re: From peter hogg and members of the royal nz naval assn. South canterbury branch, new zealand

    How very nice indeed and with lots of interest too!
    In return thank you to Peter for sending this in!
    Cheers
    Doc Vernon
    Senior Site Moderator-Member and Friend of this Website

    R697530

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    Default Re: From peter hogg and members of the royal nz naval assn. South canterbury branch, new zealand

    Very interesting.

    The Monowai was the ship that brought our Lou home to Liverpool from Singapore after WW2
    Cnheers
    Brian
    here he is pointing to the Monowai, the first name on the memorial, on the Pier Head in Liverpool, in 2013
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Captain Kong; 23rd December 2015 at 11:08 AM.

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    Default Re: From peter hogg and members of the royal nz naval assn. South canterbury branch, new zealand

    Ref. which is given to the Submarine Museum at Gosport. Visited there a few years ago when across. Asked to see the Hollande 1, Britains first commissioned submarine which was lost on passage Liverpool to Plymouth in 1912. In 1980 or thereabouts we found when doing a quick search around the Eddystone. It came up on our Fish Finder and was later salvaged and cleaned up and put on display at museum, when explained and pointed out in the log book displayed my signature and writing of the event, my entrance money was returned. Cheers JS

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    Default Re: From peter hogg and members of the royal nz naval assn. South canterbury branch, new zealand

    The submarine visit is well worth while, I have been several times with my kids when they were young, also taken my sons foster children, they all came out with questions to the staff , and really enjoyed it. Have been in the Holland 1 , didn't realise you were involved John, kt

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    Default Re: From peter hogg and members of the royal nz naval assn. South canterbury branch, new zealand

    Have faint memories of it Keith. We were returning from the West Coast off Scotland to Portsmouth. I was mate or Chief Officer on the Seaforth Clansman ( Naval Party 1007) at the time and for some reason were doing a survey around the Eddystone, probably to kill time for arrival Portsmouth. It came up as a solid object on the Fish Finder we had on board among other articles of more modern sonar equipment. I say my name was in the log book, this was the fair copy of the Deck Log and titled Chief Officers Log and was the copy sent to the owners every month on completion, this was signed by the Master and Chief officer at the bottom of every page. Believe this was on display in one of the cabinets. I think we were the ones to find and may have been asked to do a sweep of the area. No doubt it may be on Google, however have found when looking up things on such it leaves a lot of the relevant facts unknown, one only finds this out when one is at the scene of the crime so to speak. The likes of one of the warships being lost during the Falklands war and the Admiralty wanting the quick recovery of a certain object. This was confirmed by a post on here last year about one of the commercial diving ships recovering and the writer confirmed was a nucleur warhead. I suspected this in 1982/3, but said nothing. However I doubt if you will find such info. on google. Like the press they only show what they know and like the press there is no surety of its accuracy. The Hollande 1 was by todays standards a miniature submarine and think had 6 of a crew when lost in a storm, nobody was lost. Cheers JS
    Last edited by j.sabourn; 26th January 2016 at 08:43 AM.

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    Default Re: From peter hogg and members of the royal nz naval assn. South canterbury branch, new zealand

    Keith during that period the Radio Officer on ship who was later titled Electronics Officer came from the I.O.W. A Warwick Hammerton don't suppose you know him do you. Was across at his house a couple of times but cant remember the street only remember he lived in a detached bungalow. After the Seaforth Clansman was de-commissioned so to speak, think he may have worked on the Stadive a semi-submersible work ship. Cheers JS

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